Green Smoothie

Assalamu alaikom folks,

I've been feeling too full these past two weeks, and, alhamdulilaah for all the food that I have, but I feel like I've been eating the wrong foods.  I've gotten used to eating within a certain range of calories, and not only that but eating well.  This means less refined and packaged foods and more fresh foods and veggies.  So tonight I decided not to eat any of the leftovers in the fridge.  I made a green smoothie instead.  I normally make them with spinach, but tonight I didn't have any so I used some red and green leaf lettuce.   All in all this is what I used:
2 dates (pitted of course)
1 banana
1 red apple, peeled
frozen peaches
frozen strawberries
1 cup of red and green leaf lettuce
1-2 cups water

I pureed these till nice and smooth.  It turned out pretty good even though it was different since I'm used to spinach.  There was a touch of bitterness.

I searched a little bit and found a recipe I'm curious to try with kale.  Not a big fan of it.  It is, however, very healthy.  So I might pick some up IF it is convenient for me b/c as you know, after menu planning on Friday, we buy our weekly groceries over the weekend.  Otherwise it will end up on next week's grocery list :)
Check this recipe out:

Kale Banana Smoothie:

Put 1 banana, 2 cups chopped kale, 1 tsp maple syrup, 1-2 tbsp flaxseeds (optional) and 1/2 cup brown rice milk into a blender and blend! (I like to add a few ice cubes for summertime refreshment).
It will take a few minutes for everything to puree so be patient. It ends up being a lovely vibrant green colour - very fresh and uplifting!
Taken from Here!

Let me know what you think if you try this kale one out.

Menu Planning Friday (posted Saturday)

Assalamu alaikom wa rahmatullah!

Friday was menu planning, right on time!  Alhamdulillah, we didn't actually eat all the meals I had planned for last week, so some will get slotted into this upcoming week. Not sure how this is working out, but I feel like we don't have that many groceries to get this week.  The template I normally use seems to have disappeared from the site I use, however this template is very similar. In fact, it is helpful if you have a child with allergies or need to make anything special for someone in the family for some reason.  If you browse that site you will find a treasure trove of organization help, not only for meals but for other aspects of daily life!  (handy for all of us, not just homeschoolers)

Without further ado:
Lunch options this week (now that I have basil I hope to have enough to make my own pesto this week)
* Pasta with pesto
* Cabbage Salad
* Chicken tortilla casserole (was such a big hit last week that it must be repeated this week)
* Sandwiches
* Hot dogs (if necessary :$)

Dinner:
Monday: Cooked Yogurt Dish w/ Beef Stew; Rice
Tuesday: Same as Monday
Wednesday: Baked potato and chili
Thursday: Spaghetti and Sauce, salad, garlic bread
Friday: Same as Thursday
Saturday: Skillet fried chicken strips w/ salad.

Recipes available upon request :)

My Latest Favorite Thing

Ooooooh! I just love finding something new, getting it, using it, and LOVING it!!!  And now I have to do the right thing and share it with you people here.  A lady in Florida makes these cute reusable snack and sandwich bags.  What is that, you ask?  Why take a look. They look like this:

Of course, she's not the only person in the world who makes them, but I loved her choice in fabrics. Here is her Etsy store.  Lots of other sellers on Etsy sell similar items. 

I've recently run out of Ziploc bags, so instead of buying more, I wanted to try these reusable bags to pack our apples, goldfish, pretzels, and sandwiches.  Granted, there are no more school lunches to pack, but we do take snacks when going to the park, running errands, or going to appointments.  It makes me cringe when I whip out 4 little plastic bags to fill with snacks, so I'm hoping this will make snack time less painful on my conscience!  Let me know if you have used this type of thing before or if you start to after reading this!

Menu Planning Friday!

Here's the program for the upcoming week, insha'Allah, and as always, these don't have to be on the dates mentioned. I use this as a guide, especially for buying groceries on Saturday/Sunday.

Sat: Grilled Chicken, Salad, Garlic Bread

Sunday:  Gazpacho, Meatloaf

Monday:  Gazpacho, Roast Chicken

Tuesday:  Salad and cooked yogurt dish w/ beef cubes, rice on the side

Wednesday:  Spaghetti, Meatsauce, Salad

Thursday:  Leftovers

Friday:  Baked potatoes and chili

Lunches planned for the week:
Cabbage Salad
Pasta Bake
Chicken Tortilla Bake
Sandwiches

Old Pic of my first attempt at scones. They were so good , but so heavy on the tummy that I had to take a nap after eating them!